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Dubai - South Africa's Chad Le Clos delivered gold-winning performances in the 50m and 200m butterfly events on day one of the Dubai leg of the Fina Swimming World Cup on Tuesday night.
Hungary's Katinka Hosszu also grabbed the headlines by clinching gold in four events (200m free, 50m back, 200m IM), 800m) and silver in the 100m fly and 200m backstroke.
50m breaststroke World Record holder Cameron Van der Burgh of South Africa was absent on Tuesday night, but his countryman, Roland Schoeman, represented the nation in this event by ranking fourth. The winner of the event was Felipe Lima (BRA, 26.02), who also won the race last weekend in Beijing.
Schoeman took second place in the 50m butterfly, which was won by Le Clos as expected.
Le Clos, the South African champion, who with his two Rio Olympic silver medals (100m fly and 200m free) became South Africa’s most decorated Olympian in history, impressed in Dubai by grabbing gold in the 200m fly in 1:49.71.
He was closely followed by Japan’s Daiya Seto and Germany’s Philip Heintz. He was also part of the relay team but narrowly missed the podium with a fourth place.
In other men’s races, Russia’s Vladimir Morozov grabbed the first gold medal at stake (100m free), touching home in 46.71, leaving Pieter Timmers (BEL, 47.14) to take silver and Katsumi Nakamura (JPN, 47.44) bronze.
This was Morozov’s 12th victory in this event.
Morozov claimed another victory (100m IM) on day one in Dubai, as well as one silver medal in the 50m breast.
Pavel Sankovich (BLR) dominated the 100m back in 50.20, defeating the most successful swimmers in this particular event, Bobby Hurley of Australia (silver) and Russia’s Stanislav Donetc, who did not make it to the Top 3.
However, Hurley was the fastest in the 400m free race and secured the title in 3:41.94. South Africa's Myles Brown, first last weekend in Beijing, touched the wall after him (3:41.3) in front of Great Britain’s James Guy.
Marco Koch gave Germany their first medal of the meet in the 200m breast in 2:03.41. The German has now won this event 11 times at the World Cup.
Philip Heintz brought home a second medal with the 100m IM (silver) and a third one with the 400m IM, also silver.
The final race of the day, the men’s 400m IM, was won by Beijing’s winner Daiya Seto of Japan in 4:00.93.
Having already impressed in the opening four legs in Paris-Chartres, Berlin, Moscow and Beijing, Hosszu claimed gold in the 200m free (1:54.37) and the 50m back (26.35) in Dubai.
The Hungarian star also added the 200m IM (2:05.87) and the 800m (8:27.45) titles to her medal tally.
Hosszu, 27, who captured an incredible three gold and one silver medals at the Rio Olympics about two months ago, has won the overall World Cup title in the past four years and looks well on her way to grab the 2016 title too.
Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos grabbed a silver medal in the 200m IM in 2:07.34, while Efimova took bronze (2:07.82).
100m fly favourite Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) did not disappoint the Dubai crowd as she claimed a fourth consecutive win in this event since the beginning of the season.
She touched home in 56.11 in front of Hosszu and Australian Madeline Groves.
Ottesen continued her winning streak with success in the 50m free (24.12). She defeated Brittany Elmslie (AUS) and Katie Meili (USA).
Meili repeated her Berlin triumph in the 100m breast in 1:03.26, beating her strongest opponents - Alia Atkinson (JAM, silver) and Yulia Efimova (RUS, bronze) who won in Paris-Chartres and Moscow respectively.
Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina collected a 17th win in the 200m back at the World Cup (2:00.97), the outright most in this century. Behind her in this order were the two Hungarians Hosszu and Jakobos.
The mixed 4x50 medley event, meanwhile, was won by Team Russia in 1:40.81. Australia were second, while China placed in third position.
Article courtesy of www.fina.org
